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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 05-04-2017, 05:52 PM
sfbjr22 sfbjr22 is offline
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New grinder or other necessary tools

Looking for some opinions on if I should buy a better grinder or other tools that I am needing for knife making. I currently have a 2x48 Kalamazoo 1/3 hp grinder. The motor is weak, the tracking sucks, and the wheels are garbage. It gets the job done just not the best. I am needing an etcher so I can mark my blades, a forge, vise, bandsaw not necessary just helpful. I am wanting to buy a KMG with 3 hp motor and vfd I have about half the money saved. I could spend the money now on all the other items I need and start saving again for the grinder or my thought was to get the grinder since I'm getting close to having enough and then start buying the other tools which cost significantly less. What rout would you guys take?
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Old 05-04-2017, 06:39 PM
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ATalley ATalley is offline
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I would go with the KMG (you will not regret the purchase!)


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Old 05-04-2017, 08:46 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Yeah, probably the KMG. Forges are easy to build and can be pretty cheap. Etchers can be found on eBay pretty cheap from time to time or you can build a simple one that will hold you until you can buy a better one. But, there just isn't any substitute for a good grinder ...


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Old 05-04-2017, 09:42 PM
jimmontg jimmontg is offline
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Kalamazoo has a 1/2 HP Baldor motor on their 2x48 not a 1/3, that's on their 1x42 and if their wheels are messed up it's because they are not really made for grinding against if you are doing that. That contact wheel isn't good for heavy grinding against. I never had a tracking problem with the dozen or so I used over the years in the metal trades and I also made about 60 knives with them, but all against the platen. The rubber wheel wasn't much good for a hollow grind (too small), we had a big 12" wide by about 60" or so belt grinder with a big wheel to grind against for a HG knife. Too fast for anything else (fastest belt grinder I ever saw). I think it had a 20 HP motor, it was huge anyway. The 2x48 Kalamazoo is really too fast to except for metals, same for my Dayton grinder. I have a slower Delta 1x42 for wood handles and such.

I have a 2x48 1 HP motor right now with heavy, solid aluminum wheels and a platen I had to modify, but it's a better grinder than the Kalamazoo. I mean for grinding metal it's great. It is a Dayton, but you will have to modify the platen. When I used a Kalamazoo the only problem I had was if not mounted on rubber pads it vibrated too much. If what you say is true then the quality of the newer models went downhill. Either that or you just got a bad one, it happens with some of the best machines. Their customer service was pretty good, you might want to call them if you recently bought their grinder. Their phone number is 269-382-2050.

My Dayton 2x48 cost me $230 on sale with shipping included, its usually about $270. Has a TEFC motor as well. Since they made a mistake and sent me a full 1 HP motor instead of the standard 3/4 HP I can convert it to 2x72 with a 3 gear pulley for slow to fast without much loss of power like when using a variable control. I live in an apt and I have my grinders on a cart so I can take it outside. I'm Moving to Las Cruces NM and am hoping to get my own place. Then I'll convert my grinder to 2x72 as the cart doesn't have room. I'm a hobbyist so getting a KMG isn't as important to me as getting a HT oven is. To each his own.

I use an inexpensive Ryobi 9" wood bandsaw which will cut brass as well with a 16 tpi blade. I tweaked it so it has no "drift" problems and I order my blades custom made for what I do from Pro Bandsaw Works, if you go with an oddball sized metal cutting bandsaw they make any size you want with the best materials around. Their blades last twice as long as Bosch blades do, even against desert ironwood which dulls them up pretty fast as it has silicates in it like African Blackwood does, very dense woods. . Remember that woodcutting saws move too fast and do not have enough power for steel.
https://www.probandsawworks.com/

As for a forge, Ray Rogers, a moderator here has an excellent DVD on how to make your own inexpensively. As for an etcher you can make your own too fairly cheap, Ernie Grospitch stencils are fairly inexpensive as well.
http://erniesknives.com/default.html
He has a lot of info on that website about etching. It is worth your trouble to give it a look see.

By all means get the KMG or maybe somebody here would sell you theirs, but call Kalamazoo and see what they might do for you too. The other items you need aren't as expensive as you may have thought, so get the KMG.

BTW If you have a 1/3 HP motor then that didn't come from the Kalamazoo factory as they never put their 1/3 motor on the 2x48, did you perchance happen to buy it used? If you did then somebody modified a 1x42 to 2x48, is the motor a Baldor? That is what they used and still do.
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Old 05-05-2017, 01:25 AM
sfbjr22 sfbjr22 is offline
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You're right it is a 1/2 hp. I was looking on Craigslist at motors and I saw a 1/3 hp I guess that was stuck in my head when I typed this up. I did buy the grinder used someone must have been using the contact wheel a lot I can look at it and tell it's worn. Thanks for the info I'm going to check out Rays DVD and Ernies site.i believe I will save a little more and get the KMG all the reviews on them are excellent. Also I just found a guy giving away plate steel so I'm going to get that and probably build a forge out of it
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  #6  
Old 05-05-2017, 09:08 AM
dtec1 dtec1 is offline
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I have the KMG GET THAT FIRST! As ray said a lot of the other stuff can be made or scavenged...

Forge and burner is a VERY easy and cheap build, I bet you can find a vise real cheap on craigs list just search blacksmith tools.

A anvil can be made from many things. Mine is a large piece of "tall" rail road track (they make 3 different hieghts of track get the biggest you can) There are many other things you can use and modify to make a anvil. I welded a piece of square steel tubing on the side of my rail track and use it as a hardy hole... with rail track it comes slightly curved I ground half of it flat with a angle grinder (and a ton of disks for the angle grinder that steel track is hard and tough especially if its a used piece that a train has gone over a million times) I kept the other half slightly curved as it was....If you want to take the time I have seen guys grind and cut one side into a horn...that will take a lot of work. But my point is being creative you can use a ton of things for a anvll.

As far as the etcher you can make that to if you find the right power source. I made a crude but workable one from a charger that had the right amps and volts (similar to a phone charger I forget what this charger was for) Now I use a old adjustable power supply my father had made from his days building fixing and selling cb radios. It works great. I have seen videos of guys using car batteries car chargers all sorts of stuff....again the point is be creative....

I would spend the cash on a KMG for sure I got one and never looked back its still one of my best working and favorite pieces of equipment. I would say (as we talked about on another thread recently) IF you buy the grinder get the actuall KMG and don't waste time with the "knock off's" that have hit the market recently...they are cheaper for a reason and they are deffinitly not as solid as the kmg....
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Old 05-05-2017, 09:09 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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The plate steel can certainly come in useful but maybe not so much for building a forge. After you look at the DVD you'll have a much better idea of what it takes to build one and you'll probably be surprised at how simply it can be done....


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  #8  
Old 05-05-2017, 11:36 AM
sfbjr22 sfbjr22 is offline
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Thanks guys. I appreciate all of the information.
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  #9  
Old 05-06-2017, 07:58 AM
WNC Goater WNC Goater is offline
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The KMG. You won't be disappointed nor regret it. You also won't spend time making mods to get it to work right or track right.


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